As you slept last night a magical thing happened. Dave, PJ4VHF on Bonnaire copied the D4C beacon on 144.436 MHz. The beacon was received for 90 minutes between 01:00 - 02:30 GMT. Dave was using a pair of 13 element yagi antennas and a TS-2000 transceiver. Unfortunately it was not possible to have a human go to the D4C station to make a two-way contact.

Conditions are predicted to be as good this evening with perhaps a better connection between D4 / EA8 and Portugal and the European continent. Past experience has shown that the tall mountain volcanoes in D4 make very good reflectors for VHF. Dave believes that a successful trans-Atlantic QSO with the European continent may well be using the D4 mountains as a reflector. What this means is that if you are blocked by terrain in the direction of the Caribbean, you should point your antenna at the Cape Verde islands and use the mountains as a reflector.

Several VHF stations from the Caribbean (PJ4VHF, KP4EIT & NP2X) will be active this evening hoping to make a two-way trans-Atlantic contact. The NP2X/b beacon is transmitting on 144.291 MHz with 70 watts into a 15 element yagi. The calling frequency of 144.300 MHz should be used for random calling. We will also be active on the ON4KST 144 & 432 MHz IARU Region 3 chat room at http://www.on4kst.org/chat/login.php?band=9